Legacy Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes Trust and Rhodes Scholarships Philip Ziegler

To be chosen as a Rhodes Scholar is to join the company of a highly select group: former scholars include presidents, prime ministers, ambassadors, archbishops, authors, judges, and other important figures. Over 7,000 individuals have received the world's most prestigious scholarship in the century since Cecil John Rhodes, the British-born founder of the De Beers diamond company, established through his will the Rhodes Trust and Rhodes scholarships. This fascinating history traces the evolution of the Trust and its scholarship programme from Rhodes' vision in 1902 to the new world of the twenty-first century.Rhodes specified the criteria for selecting scholars, stipulating public service as their highest aim. An avowed imperialist, he dreamed of a white masculine Anglo-Saxon hegemony that would lead to world peace and prosperity. The book explores how the organization changed after the Empire faded and how Rhodes' vision has been made relevant today, particularly through the vital contributions of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in South Africa.

Philip Ziegler, the renowned British biographer and historian, has written some two dozen books, including The Black Death; London at War, 1939-1945; and the official biographies of Mountbatten and Edward VIII. He lives in London.

'Philip Ziegler has writen an authoritative assessment of the scholarship, its evolution from only bachelors to women and married scholars ... At times this book has the dense feel of a corporate history but that is to deny the delight and idiosyncrasies that emerge.' Michael Fathers, The Independent

'Legacy is an 'official' history of the Rhodes Scholarships ... It was a wise decision to entrust it to Philip Ziegler, and urbane and accomplished writer, and he has done a marvellous job, presenting the story with exemplary clarity and wit. This is a book of the highest quality, full of imaginative insight and a delight to read.' Vernon Bogdanor, The Spectator

'It could have been a dry tale, but, breaking the story up into bite-sized chapters, Mr Ziegler satisfies every appetite, putting the evolution of the scholarships in the context of a changing world, bringing to light the many people in the story and all the while finding apt and amusing things to say about them.' The Economist

'[A] thorough and useful institutional history ... Ziegler takes a sanguine view of the programme, arguing that the positive results outweigh Rhodes's legay of colonial exploitation. He sees expiation at the story's end: a century after his death, Rhodes's name was joined with Nelson Mandela's in a new fund designed to educate black South Africans. Within a few years, the first Mandela-Rhodes scholars will begin showing up at Oxford. This brings the bequest full circle. It is impossible to say whether the founder would have been pleased.' Jacob Weisberg, The Sunday Times

'Ziegler has an admirable gift for the potted history, doggedly following the Rhodes trustees and scholars through war after weary war, debate after interminable debate, enlivened by a way with the pithy quotation.' Nakul Krishna, New Statesman